Ice making apparatus



Dec. 26, 1.933.

ICE MAKING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 23, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTO R N EYS A. H. BAER 1,941,198

Dec. 26, 1933. A. H. BAER 1,941,198

ICE MAKING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 23 1933 I f? Z INVENTOR a [1101512 #5061- ATTORNEYS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 26, 1933 s 1,941,193 7 ICE MAKING APPARATUS 1 Alvin H. Bae r,

Carbondale, Pa.,'assignor to The. Carbondale Machine, Carbondal'e,

corporation 'of Pennsylvania v Application February 23,1933. Serial No. 657,931

9 Qlaims. 1(01. 62-.159)

Raw water usedin'themanufacture of arti- 'ficial ice usually' contains suificien'tair in solution to cause the Reformed directly therefrom.

to be cloudy and/or substantially opaque un-' less the bubbles of air separating during the freezing be removed. to agitate the waterduring freezing,'by means of a jet of airdelivered into the water'and which will pick up or sweep out the small bubbles; fIherebyclear ice may begformed Among the objects of the invention are to more" efiectively agitate the water, to reduce the'amount of power'required for this operation, and to permit the use of smaller compressors or blowers for agiven size of tank. 1 a

I have found :that intermittentv agitation is as effective as continuous'agitation ii the periods of non-agitation be comparatively short, but not necessarily shorter than the periods of agitation.

I takeadvantage of this fact by delivering air to two or more 'sets of cansalternately or insucneeded for the two'sets; and

' given air pipe it into them andjprjevents an directescape of the and thus as the compressor is never; at any one time, delivering to both sets of cans, such compressor may be of a size only approximately one-half that ordinarily there is a'very considerable saving'in the cost of the apparatus and power required.

cession and intermittently,

Intermittent delivery alternatingfor two cans has heretofore been proposed; but so far as I am. aware not in a practical I and commercial form.

If the water be permitted to 'flowup into the air pipe during the time the air is shut off, the level of the water in the can will be continuously varied, and each time the air is turned on for any must be forced out'and a jet of water is formed before any air enters thecan. Furthermore the release of the airpressure in the pipe when atmosphere. 7 In my improved apparatus I employ a' threeway valvefor controlling the supply of compressed air to the'two. sets of cans alternately.

to. maintain asuflicient pressure in the air pipes at all times tovprevent water. from flowing up air from the pipes except through the water while agitating. Whenthe valve is reversed to admit compressed air "intof the cthe'rfsetof pipes no.

is"no water in 'thewaterin' the cans. no' water It is common practice regulated. agitation of the "water.

ends of the can.

the supply-is shut oil, involves a loss of'the-power required to compress such air as is thus permitted to directly escape to the 'tive view of a construction the individual eet-Pa tl m ettime is wasted in building up the pressure, therethepipes 't'o be forced out, and; the air begins'imm'ediately to bubble 'upthrough" flowsback into the pipes when the supply of compressedair is shut. ofi,'no portion of the blowingtime "is wasted in ejectingthis waterfrom the pipes.

The valve is operated so as to automatically deliver the air to "firstone set'of cansandftheir to another at the desired time intervals which I have found may be several times eachminute," 1 although for'some water Supplies the timemay' be lengthened. With'watersalmost purdth'er'e may. be a division of the cans'into three" or more sets and one on period to eachtwo or periods. j' L In the ordinary freezing of water in commercial cans it requires about forty-two hours the brine is at 14? F. and about" thirty-eight" freezing time is reduced This may be due in part j to the lesser amount ofheat deliveredintothef a I water with the air and'inpart'to themOrerapid I freezing while the'water is in" a' quiescentfstate between successive periods of air delivery." As another important feature of the present"' invention each air pipe, has" its discharge end" ,shaped'jto eject the compressed air into two dif-fl verging streams toward the opposite endwallso'f85 the .canthereby effecting a more balancedfand' By means of this construction I effectively create upwardcur- 'j rents near the sidesof the pipe and downward currents along the ice forming surfaces near the Thus the direction of flow of I water alongthe ice forming surfaceis opposite; a to that at which air bubbles 'forming'on'said' 7 surface tend to flow and they are more' megtively swept off by'the'water current. a 9 V Inthe accompanying drawings thereis'shown for the purposeof illustratiomone formxof ap- P paratus for carrying out my invention;

In these drawingsa Fig. 2 1 is "a somewhat diagrammatic perspecembod ing m yiii- V vention; l Fig. 2 is a section'somewhat diagrammati l taken along the'line'22- of Figf l. I

v Fig; 3cisa'section, somewhat enlarged, show ing detailoi the control-valve I Figp i is a'-"sectionthrough-- the lower part of a can with thedrop tiibe therein and tlie moreoff' 70 V -headers extending in from one 1 half by the other main header.

; manifold section while gins to open the other duction gearing 32 Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of a portion of one of the headers and a drop tube, the lower portion of the latter being in section.

In this specific embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a series of freezing cans 10 of the standard type supported by any suitable means in a having the usual oblong, rectangular cross-section. These cans are filled with raw water and subjected to the freezing action of the cold brine in the tank.

12 and conveyed tothe individual'cans in the tank by a pipe 13, a manifold or cross pipe 16, 17 and headers 14 and 15. Connectedto each main header and extending directly above each lateral row of cans are branch having drop pipes 22 delivering therefrom into the cans. Each branch header extends only about half way across the tank and supplies only one-half ofthe cans in. its row. a The branch main header are approximately in line with the branch headers extending in from the other main header so that approximately one-half of the cans in the tank are supplied by one main header and the other The cans are thus divided into two sets supplied with air from different main headers.

For controlling thesupply of air to the main headers 14 and 15, a three-way valve 23 is disposed at the intersections of the manifold sections and the supply pipe 13. This valve may be of the rotary or oscillating type, but is so constructed that it does not release air directly to the atmosphere and opens the supply to one cutting it off from the other so that there may be a substantially uniform and continuous delivery of air from the source of supply. As shown particularly in Fig. 3'this valve has a cylindrical chamber provided I with an inlet portion 24 adapted to be connected to thepipe 13,"and a pair of outlet ports 25 and spect to the ports 25 and'26 that as one port bewill begin to close and thevalve may move through a considerable range with one port'remaining open and the other remaining closed. The closing of one of the ports while air under pressure is being' delivered to the valve chamber'will cause the air in one of the manifold "sections and the main header, branch header and drop pipes connected thereto, to be trapped and held under such pressure as is due to the head of waterin the cans. Thus no water can flow up the ends of the drop pipes and there will; be no substantial variation in the pressure in the pipes, headers, manifold or supply pipe during the operation. I

Any suitable means may be provided for oscillating thevalve member at the desiredtime intervals, and a disc or other intermittent valve may be used. I have shown somewhat diagrammaticallyamotor 3l connected by means of recold brine tank 11, and each headers 21 each This is preferably and a crank; or other driven v then removed from the member to a link 33 pivotally connected to the valve lever. The gearing may be such as to give a continuous back and forth movement to the link 33 or an intermittent movement with short periods of rest at each end of the stroke. The timing of this oscillating mechanism is so adjusted in respect to the speed of the motor that the reversals of the valve 23 takes place at least once each minute for the more difficult' waters and longer for the other waters. I have found that this timing is very effective in securing the proper agitation of the Water in the cans.

It will be noted that the valve has no'outlet except to the headers, and as the air delivered to one header is shut off the air therein is trapped. "It'will also be noted that one of the ports 25, 26 opens as the other closes so that there may be a continuous uniform delivery from the compressor without substantial pressure variation and a continuous delivery of air to the water at a uniform rate. Therefore there is no substantial variation in the load on the motor and thefmotor may be of a size suificient to deliver, air to only one-half of the can at one time. Thus the cost of the motor" is materially reduced with a corresponding reduction in the power required over that commonly provided for agitating'mechanism for a tank of a' given size. 7

As a further feature of the present invention each air pipe-22 is constructed at its discharge end to effect agitation of air therefrom in two diverging streams towards the ends of thelcan. Since these cans are of greater dimension in one direction than in the other the apparatus serves to eject the streams of air in the, directions in which they'will do the most good.

In the specific form shown, a partition 35 is mounted in the lower end of the pipe so as .to divide 'the pipe into two parallel longitudinal passages which terminate in nozzles'36 andl37. In order to direct the air jets in two regular. diverging streams toward the end walls ,'of the. can the discharge opening of the nozzles 36 and 37 are above'the lower end of the partition. accomplished by cutting off the lower end of the pipe 22 at oppositesides of the partition 35 and along downwardly converging lines so as to form substantially laterally directed outlets. facing toward the end walls of the can. f

I have found that by means of this construction, there is created upward of the pipeand downward currents near the end walls of the can, and the agitation of the water on more balanced and more substantial distance above said bottom.

After a-peri0dof freezing currents near the sides clogging of the V pipes byv the ice'forma-tion on the bottom of the can; these ends are-located'a V and aerating; the 'main portion of the water in'the'cans will be frozen solid, and a relatively small cavity remain containing the unfrozen water and substantially all of the impurities. Substantially all of the with fresh water" which isthen perniittedto can f airwill have been released and'oome to the surface. The unfrozen'w'ater and its'impurities are can and the cavity filled mittently to agitate the tinue freezing at a relatively. slow rate until a substantially solid block of ice is formed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. In the art of manufacturing ice by an apparatus comprising a pluralitylof of substantially equal number and containing water to be frozen, the method which includes the steps of blowing compressed air into the water in the cans of the sets in succession and interwater in said cans, and maintaining pressure in said pipes at all times during the entire blowing period to prevent rise of water in saidpipes during this period.

2. A can ice plant including two substantially equal sets of cans, a source of compressed air supply, an air supply pipe leading from said source of compressed air, a pair of headers connected to drop pipes in said cans and connected to said supply pipe, and a valve at the intersection of said headers and said supply pipe for controlling the supply of compressed air to said headers and acting to trap air in one header while delivering air to the other header in alternate succession. V

3. An ice making plant including two sets of cans each having an air inlet pipe, a compressor of a capacity substantially only sufficient to supply agitating air at the usual rate to approximately half of said cans, a pair of headers one connected to the air pipes of one set of cans and the other connected to set of cans, a supply pipe connecting said compressor and said headers, a three-way valve operable to connect either of said headers to said supply pipe and to close the other against return flow of air from the air pipes connected thereto, and means for operating said valve to reverse the connections to said headers at intervals of less than one minute. I

t. An apparatus for manufacturing ice, including two sets of cans adapted frozen, a source or" compressed air supply, a pair of headers, and a three-way valve having an inlet port communicating with the source of compressed air supply, a pair of outlet ports communicating respectively with said headers, and a valve member which closes one of said outlet ports when the other outlet port is opened.

5. An apparatus for blowing air through a body of water, including a can for said water, a pipe extending downwardly in the Water of the can and having the lower endthereof spaced a substantial distance above the bottom of the can, and a partition plate in said pipe forming a pair of discharge nozzles on the opposite sides of said plate, the outlet opening of each nozzle extending above the lower edge of the partition plate, whereby compressed air may be ejected from-said pipe in two well-regulated and diverging streams.

6. An apparatus for agitating a body of water to remove air and impurities therein and to form marketable ice, including a can for holding water I to be frozen and having an oblong, rectangular cross-section, a pipe extending into said can and having the discharge end spaced above the bottom of said can, and a vertical partition plate inside said pipe, forming a pair of passages at the discharge end of said pipe, and extending substantially at right angles to the sides of the can, said pipe having a pair of outlet openings sets of cans the air pipes of the other to hold water to be disposed above the lower edge of the partition plate, whereby compressed air may be ejected from said pipe in two regulated and diverging streams towards the end walls of said can.

'7. An apparatus for blowing air through a body of water, including a can for said water, a pipe extending downwardly in the water of the can and having the lower end thereof spaced a substantial distance above the bottom of the can, and a partition plate in said pipe forming a pair of discharge nozzles on the opposite side of said plate, the lower end of the pipe being beveled on opposite sides of the plate towards the lower end of said plate to form outlet openings for said nozzles above the lower edge of said plate, whereby compressed air may be ejected from said nozzles in two well-regulated and diverging streams.

of cans communicating with one header, and

the pipes in the other batch of cans communito hold water to be an air supply pipe leadcating with the other header, the lower end of each pipe being disposed a substantial distance above the bottom of its respective can, whereby ice formation in the bottoms of the cans does not prematurely clog the discharge ends of said pipes, and a three-way valve at the intersection of said headers and said supply pipe, and having an inlet port communicating with the source of compressed air supply, a pair of outlet ports communicating respectively with said headers,

and a valve member which closes one of said outlet ports when the other outlet port is opened,

and automatically operable means for oscillating said valve member periodically from one position to another to alternately open one outlet port and close the other, whereby compressed air is blown in alternate succession through the water in the cans of the two batches to intermittently agitate said water.

9. An ice making plant including a plurality of substantially equal sets of cans adapted to hold water to be frozen, a corresponding headers, a source of compressed air supply for said headers, a plurality of substantially vertical pipes, each extending centrally into the interiorof a corresponding can, the lower end of each pipe being disposed a substantial distance above the bottom of its respective can whereby ice, formation in the bottom of the can does not prematurely clog the discharge end of said pipe,v

the pipes in each set of cans communicating with their respective headers, valve means for controlling the supply of compressed air to said headers and acting to deliver air to one header while trapping air in the other-headers, means for automatically operating said valve means in predetermined intervals .to deliver air into said sets of cans in succession, and means connected to the outlet'ends of the pipes'for directing compressed air therefrom in diverging streams.

' ALVIN H. BAER.

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